


Every New Beginning

by TerryJune



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:41:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25869109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TerryJune/pseuds/TerryJune
Summary: I just wanted to share this unfinished, unedited theory before tonight's episodes air.  I'll clean it up and republish.
Kudos: 7





	Every New Beginning

Mack, Elana, Daisy and Coulson took their time trudging through the Scottish countryside, leaving the idyllic cottage behind them.

Daisy kept glancing to Coulson. Despite his protestations, she was still firm in her belief that he was more man than machine, but she couldn't deny it was like a light had dimmed or a battery run down the past two days.

Since the day they won against the Chronicoms. Since the day Melinda May had finally met her match, her hand held tight in Daisy's and Phil's name on her lips.

Things had moved quickly; Mallick had been defeated, quite literally quaked apart by his own arrogance, and helped along by Daisy. Sybil had been dismantled and destroyed and the rest of the chronicoms had been sent through the portals back to their own world.

Daisy removed the cranial implant from Simmons who promptly was able to reset the jumper to the day after she had initially left Fitz at a nebulous point in the future of their own timeline.

The reunion had been sweet, with a proud Fitz greeting the team and introducing them to 2 year old Skye. The precocious toddler had immediately taken to her namesake and had even managed a familiar soft smile from Coulson. 

But the team had agreed that the Fitzsimmons family more than deserved their opportunity for quiet and normalcy so, the four of them returned to the now seemingly cavernous plane in mostly silence.

Exchanging glances with Daisy, Elana and Mack disappeared into the crew cabins, leaving her to follow Coulson to the flight deck where he stood, staring at the empty flight chair.

"At least you know how to fly this thing." Daisy tried lightly bumping his shoulder.

He turned stiffly, as if he hadn't realized he wasn't alone.

She braced herself for his inevitable self-reproach; the anger turned inward over May's sacrifice, leaving them apart, yet again. 

But his eyes weren't hollowed with depressive scorn; his face wore a look she recognized; calculation.

"We have juice for another jump?"

"Coulson..." Daisy cautioned, "We can't go back there, it can't be changed."

"I'm not looking to change anything." He smirked, his eyes reflecting life again for the first time in days, "Well, not too much at least."

\--  
Daisy looked to Mack and Elena, "It's up to you. I can't promise much other than it will be pretty weird at first."

The two looked at one another and smiled tightly at Daisy. 

"We're in." Mack nodded.

"For a little bit." Elana countered.

"Yeah." Mack agreed, "We'll join you to get things going, but once it's stable..." He squeezed Elena's shoulders.

"Fitz and Jemma seemed to have something pretty nice figured out." Elena shrugged.

Daisy nodded, though she knew her smile didn't match her eyes. She didn't blame them, but she couldn't avoid the anticipatory loneliness. 

"I mean, we'll be around," Mack tilted his head, reading Daisy's thoughts, "It's just, a break would be nice." He smiled, "But I don't imagine being able to keep this one still for long, and I'd bet after some time working on cars, I might get an itch for something bigger." He waited a beat, "I hope you know, you can always call us." 

"I do." Daisy nodded stiffly, blinking back the tears that always seemed present lately.

"Aw, come here." Elana pulled her into a hug just as Sousa walked by.

"Strap in ladies, we're getting ready to jump." 

Elena gave her an extra squeeze, "Are you sure you don't want to be taking time for yourself?"

Daisy pulled back, rolling her eyes. "I'm fine." She looked over her shoulder to the other agent strapping himself in to a chair, "Besides, I can't wait for Coulson to meet him."

\--  
"You don't need to come." Coulson said again, staring at her as steadily as he could through googles as the wind whipped at them from the open cargo bay door.

"Yes I do." She wasn't backing down. She'd let him walk off this ramp to face certain death once before, she wasn't about to let him go alone this time. "Fury will never trust me otherwise." She justified.

He seemed to accept her logic, "It's a short jump." He reminded, not for the first time, "A lot shorter than your altimeter will read. You need to pull your chute as soon as you're clear of the Zephyr."

"I know" she reiterated, restraining her desire to roll her eyes. 

"Okay." He finally nodded. "Ready?" 

"Ready." She nodded tightly.

With a final smile and wave to Mack, Elana and Sousa, Coulson stepped off the edge, followed immediately by Daisy.

The airship came out of the clouds as fast as he had promised and despite pulling their chutes early, they each hit the deck with considerably more force and speed than a typical jump.

"You good?" Coulson's hand squeezed her shoulder and she nodded, taking a breath to appreciate the genuine concern and affection. She ideally wondered if she'd ever see that again from him.

They stripped off their gear and she followed Coulson as he jogged a confident path toward a seemingly random door.

Suddenly, a red head appeared, having jumped in front of their path, arms up at the ready. 

"Coulson?!" Romanov blinked, relaxing her arms and glancing over his shoulder, "Where the hell did you come from? I thought..." Her eyes narrowed...

He waived a hand and barely broke stride, navigating around her, "Don't worry about it. Level 8. Ask me later. Gotta get to Fury."

The other spy frowned her doubt but gestured to the door, "I just left him. He's headed up for lunch."

Coulson was barely listening, going through the door and taking an immediate right up a set of stairs then a left down a hall and then up another set of stairs. Skye remembered being impressed by the size of the aircraft carrier that the other SHIELD had been operating off of a few years ago, but this was another level of huge. 

Coulson didn't seem daunted, taking each turn with the confidence of a man who knew exactly where he was going.

That is until, "Crap." He muttered, suddenly stopping in his tracks and pulling her back into a dark corner.

"What? What's wrong? Why'd we stop?" Daisy's eyes were wide and she stretched her neck to look around him. 

Two dark haired men were coming down the hall. One with shoulders hunched and eyes cast down, the other moving with the bold confidence of a man who expected nothing short of everything. "So you've been working out of a hut? Tsk, Tsk Banner, it is past time to get you to work in a proper lab again. Wait until I show you what I brought with me..."

She looked back to Coulson with wide eyes, "That was Tony Stark?"

Coulson grimaced, looking over his shoulder, assuring himself that the two would be Avengers were gone out of earshot. "And Bruce Banner." He confirmed, continuing down the hall in a much more cautious manner.

After a near eternity of stairs and halls and close calls, they finally stopped in front of a shut door. Coulson paused, looking back to Daisy, "Last chance."

She hesitated on her nod. With a sharp intake of breath she pushed forward, wrapping him in a tight hug. He returned the gesture but she knew time was a factor and they had already had the conversation they needed to have. She pulled back, blinking and swallowing. "If this is what you want."

His jaw tightened and he nodded curtly, only the barest hint of reluctance in his eyes before he used his robotic strength to pry open the secured door.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Nick Fury had half stood, hand hovering over his holster, "Coulson?!" The name came out as low growl, "You had better have a god damn emergency behind you."

"Not yet. Soon." Coulson retorted, striding up to the sparse desk without a hint of the deference Daisy had seen on the rare occasion she had been able to observe Coulson and Fury together during those early days as a team.

"Oh, really? Soon you say. What on Earth..." Fury's dismissiveness trailed off and his eye tightened and his hand returned to his holster as he appeared to finally take in the physical changes that had developed between this Coulson and the one Fury had undoubtedly been speaking to earlier in the day. "What the hell is going on? Who the hell are you and who the hell is that?" He gestured to Daisy for the first time.

"This is Daisy Johnson." Coulson replied matter of factly, "She's going to be your secret to saving SHIELD and probably the world at some point; I'd make a habit of listening to her."

"Saving SHIELD you say?" Fury's hand remained on his pistol, "And I suppose that makes you..."

"From a different timeline, future." Phil shrugged, completely nonplussed by the tension exuding from his former boss. "Maybe kind of a robot? Don't worry about it."

Fury didn't move and Phil's smirk grew. "I can prove I am me and not some rogue infiltrator."

The director didn't remove his hand from his weapon, but offered an open handed challenge for Coulson to offer his proof.

Digging into his pocket, Phil revealed the small black cube he had requested from Mack before leaving the Zephyr. He tossed it to Fury, "This turned out to be pretty helpful."

Snatching the small secure harddrive out of midair, Fury rotated it around in his hand, pressing a thumb and unlocking the projection display. 

Raising an eyebrow he clicked the device off and set it gently on the desk next to a similar black box.

Fury's hand slowly came away from the gun, "Say I believe you."

Phil nodded, grabbing the opening, "In the next half an hour we're going to have an opportunity." 

"For what?" Fury was still tense, looking between the two of them.

"To change things." Coulson looked back to Daisy, "For the better, we hope." 

They held one another's gaze for a long moment before he looked back to Fury, "I'm going to stop myself from doing something stupid. Hopefully in the process putting a permanent end to my current state of existence."

Daisy focused her eyes on Fury, unwillingly clenching her fists as Coulson's cavalier description of his encroaching demise.

He had paused and only then did she realize she was releasing minor tremors. "Sorry." She mumbled, releasing a breath. 

"Relax." He smiled at her, "I'm going to need that cool calm and collected head of yours."

She nodded, clenching her jaw and avoiding his eyes. 

"So you're here to prevent Coulson's death?" Fury frowned.

"Not at all." Phil returned his attention to his old boss, smirking, "The opposite in fact. Turns out the death of simple me is enough of a motivator to get Tony Stark's head out of his ass and for the Avengers to go save the world. So you're going to have to yank him from front line work here." 

Phil hesitated, "When you're leveraging my death maybe consider if you don't need to get blood on the Captain America card collection. It's almost a complete set in near pristine condition and there is really no way to get blood stains off. It's really a simple thing."

"Coulson." Fury ground out, "I don't give a damn about your cards."

"That's what I'm saying." Phil muttered, "Would be nice if you took care of a guy's stuff before you bring him back from the dead."

Fury just glared.

"Okay, fine," Phil put up his hands, "Just a small request from a guy who is trying to save this organization, again." 

"I'm starting to regret not shooting you." Fury ground out.

Phil rolled his eyes, "Trust me, you very much would regret it." He looked to his watch, "Look, some stuff is about to go down. If everything goes according to plan you'll find your version of me in the security deck armory. You're going to want to introduce him to Daisy here. She's going to give you some names of a few additional agents. You will assign those agents to her. She already has a mobile command unit. You will lean on this new team to accomplish some things outside of the typical scope of SHIELD and they will be your back up when things get really bad."

"You mean worse than the little brother of a Norse god coming to earth with a Napoleon complex and the capability to brain wash our people?" Fury crossed his arms.

"Yes." Phil met his stare, unblinking.

Fury moved first, looking away and then back up. "What happened Phil?"

Daisy felt herself react to the sudden softening of the director's tone; if she knew better she'd even guess there was a hint of genuine care and concern coming from the gruff commander.

For his part, Coulson swallowed, but he didn't waiver. "A lot." He took a deep breath, "Too much for me to tell you it all, nor do I believe I should. But if you've ever trusted me at all, trust me now."

"You've always been my back up plan." Fury admitted, quiet. 

"That's what I'm offering you now." Phil stepped closer, "A solid, reliable, back up plan with advanced tools and some knowledge of what's to come. The only cost is that you need to trust someone you've never met."

Fury's eye landed on Daisy, still talking to Coulson "You know that's a big ask."

"I do." Phil nodded, "But she knows everything I do, she has the same interests at heart and will work harder and be more resilient than anyone you've ever met; myself included. To trust me is to trust her."

Daisy's heart tightened.

Fury huffed, "More resilient? Didn't you just say you've come back from the dead?"

Phil shrugged, "She's got me beat; she was never even born."

Fury frowned, eye flicking between the two of them. "Alright. So. What's next?"

-

Shit. Phil Coulson cursed to himself. He thought the worst part of today would be the mocking Maria and Romanov were throwing at him over his apparent unavoidable awkwardness around Steve Rogers.

How he wished that were still the case.

Now a brainwashed Clint was leading an incursion on to the helicarrier, aiming to sow chaos and release Loki from holding. 

He checked the pulse of a security agent sprawled against a wall. The secure detention facility door was up ahead, no other security was visible.

Shit again.

Well, he couldn't let whomever was in there release Loki. But he certainly couldn't go up against this God...alien...whatever...with just his pistol. He needed a plan, and fast.

Thinking fast, he knew the armory closet was just around the corner; and R&D had just put the finishing touches on the latest large munition weapon. He had no idea what it actually did, but it looked scary enough to put down a God of chaos.

Not sparing a moment to think it over further, he sprinted to the armory. He only had half a second to realize the supposedly secured door was already open a crack before an arm shot out and pulled him roughly inside, a hand clamped tightly over his mouth.

Instinctively he stamped down and tried to twist the grab into a toss but the grip was too strong, he couldn't free himself.

"Shh...Shhh...Damnit, stop squirming the whole point is to not hurt you."

Phil relaxed ever so slightly at the oddly familiar voice. When the hands around him began to soften he tensed again, bucking and twisting, driving an elbow backwards.

"Come on!" the voice said behind him, immediately tightening in response, "We don't have time for this."

Unnaturally strong hands pinned his arms to his side and forced him to turn around.

"There isn't time for the standard, never go down without a fight schtick." A familiar, but simultaneously unfamiliar face stared back at him, "Trust me, you've got nothing to prove here."

He fisted his hands, continuing to writhe, "I don't know what trick this is, but I'm...not...buying it..."

The other face rolled his eyes, completely unimpressed with his struggle. "Hey, remember that crush you have on Melinda May?"

The words rang through his head like a gong. He blinked, "What? Cru...Melinda?...May...No...I don't...she's...I'm dating Audry...Well, she moved back to Portland...I mean...no! Stop!"

"Oh relax." The other man pushed him against the wall. "No one knows. Just stop lying to yourself...and fast or else you're going to be really pissed at yourself someday for all the time you're wasting."

Phil gaped. The other man looked like him...kind of...and maybe his voice matched the timber he heard in recordings of himself, but his words did not sound at all like himself.

He shook his head, "I don't have time for this."

"No. I don't." The other man shoved him again, "I wasn't even planning on having this conversation with you, but it's the least I can do."

"Wha..." Phil frowned. 

The other him, the older? him, pushed him again. "I'm about to take a blade through the heart for you, least you can do is listen."

"Blade through the heart...?" Phil repeated.

"Yeah, hoping Loki's magic stick can permanently fry my hard drive, which means I won't be around to make sure you don't screw this up." The other man's jaw clenched.

Phil swallowed but remained silent.

"Fury is going to assign you to a new team. It won't make sense, but you need to go along with it, and, more than anything, you need to trust the team leader."

"I'm not even team lead?" Phil couldn't help but pout.

The other man barely reacted, "The woman who is...it will be hard at first, she's going to have a hard time with you not knowing her..." He swallowed, "But let yourself trust her and be honest with her; she has the potential to be the most important person in your life."

"So what's with the talk about May?"

"Different kind of important." The other him dismissed immediately. "I just...need you to know it's important for you to look out for her. She doesn't need your protection, but she will need you. To support her, to believe in her, to be the family she needs."

Phil swallowed, not at all understanding what was going on but understanding enough to nod stiffly. 

"I'm going to leave it to her to decide how much to tell you but it will be hard for her, so give her time." The other him stared long and hard.

He nodded again, mouth dry.

With one move, the other Phil pushed him hard against the wall and pulled out a pistol with a blue stripe. 

"Hey!" Phil held up his hands "What the hell?!"

The other man hesitated with his finger on the trigger, "And yes, after Daisy, maybe work on reconnecting with May. She'll only agree to this assignment because she'll be relieved you're not dead."

"So you're not about to shoot me?"

The other man smirked, leveled the strange pistol, and Phil's world went dark.

\---

Knowing it was coming and knowing it was what he wanted didn't make it any easier for Daisy to watch the surveillance footage.

She knew she didn't need to, perhaps she even shouldn't have, but she felt like it was the least she could do, a way to be with him in his last moments, so he wouldn't relive this moment alone.

Still, a part of her deeply regretted it, and she sat in Fury's office, arms wrapped tight around her middle, fighting the urge to run away. 

Mac and Elana and Daniel were still waiting for her on the Zephyr. She had family who knew her, who were counting on her, who were waiting for her.

So she remained in Fury's private office, even as the footage showed Coulson enter the security room wielding a large gun with a smirk. She watched Thor, the Norse God she and May had once helicarrier careened toward the ocean, leveling out.

Eventually she heard familiar voices on the other side of the door. 

She stood, straightening herself as the door opened revealing Fury and a rumpled but very much alive and very much human Phil Coulson.

Fury came to a stop, "Well, no reason to drag this out; Coulson, meet Daisy Johnson."

She stepped forward, hand extended, "nice to meet you."


End file.
